Wednesday, March 21, 2012

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Trey Gowdy grilled Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, over a statement he had made in 2008 in support of high gas prices.

Mr. Chu said in 2008 that, "Somehow, we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to levels in Europe." The price of gasoline in Europe at the time was approximately $8 a gallon.

The Energy Secretary told Mr. Gowdy that he would prefer to focus on the present rather than dwell on his past statements.

In an interview, in 2009, President Obama was asked whether high gas prices may be what the country needs in order to serve as an incentive "so that we do shift to alternative means of energy... Could these high prices help us?"

The President responded that he "would have preferred a gradual adjustment" to high gasoline prices", rather than an abrupt increase in price.

OBAMA: 'END-OF-LIFE CARE' TOO COSTLY!

"I actually think that the tougher issue around medical care... is what you do around things like end-of-life care.... I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here!"Barack Obama in an interivew with the New York Times - April 2009